Staying Local

I could see today was gonna be a busy day! I wanted to go photographing, get Hazel dog a hike and then enjoy some Bronco football plus the CU Buffs women's BB game.

So to make that happen I decided to combine photographing with a hike. Hazel thought it was a great idea as usually she has to wait until around noon to go hiking.

The plan was to stop by to see my owl friends at Twin lake. Then a hike around Coot lake and a quick stop at my other owl friends known as the coot lake owls.

I was just about to turn onto Jay road and spotted this red tail perched high in a pine tree.

That was good start to the day! We continued on to Twin lakes. Sonny was in one of his favorite spots near their nest. I was hoping to have the owls all to myself but there was one older lady there. I recognized her from seeing her over at Walden ponds and other local birding spots. As I was looking around for Cher, the woman commented that she could be on the nest and that it would be hard to see her.  Since the woman had a tiny point and shoot camera, it would be hard for her to see into the nest. Little did she know that I had already taken a quick look into the nest and could see Cher was not on the nest. But I just smiled and walked down the trail.

I was pretty sure Cher was around and quickly found her hanging out in the spruce tree. I wished them both a good day and we headed over to coot lake. Hazel and I had a great time. The lake is still frozen over, so there was no swimming for Hazel. But she did get to chase the tennis ball so she was a happy dog!

On the way home, I stopped by to see my other owl friends. I quickly spotted the male GHO but he was not interested in posing for me. He flew into some trees along the roadside. So I thought I'd drive by and see if I could get a pic. He was tucked into the branches pretty well but then I spotted something else flying around. So I backed up, reparked the car and walked back over to see who it was.

Wow! It was a northern harrier posed so nicely on a fence post!  I love seeing these birds!

She was sitting there enjoying the sunshine when a magpie flew in and annoyed her.....

Then she took off and circled the nearby field looking for some breakfast.

Then the male GHO reappeared and gave me this pic! Yes, the sky was that blue! Known as a bluebird day around here!

This is one of the many reasons I live here!  You never know what you will see in your own backyard!

Thanks for reading!